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First of all, I want to thank all of the wonderful members of the Planning Committee who have dedicated countless hours over the last several months in the planning and execution of this event, working tirelessly to make this happen. So, why did we do it? Out of love; love for our chosen professions; love for our communities; and love for the work. The beautiful opening ritual performed by two members of the women's collective, In Lak 'Ech, set the tone for the rest of the day with this Maya Quichè philosophy which means "Tú eres mi otro yo; si te amo y te respeto a ti; me amo y me respeto yo; si te hago daño a ti, me hago daño a mi. In lak 'ech."
Each and every one of us is in this room because of a vested interest in the State of Latina and Latino theatre; not only in our area but across the country. We want to see our theatre companies and individual artists grow and succeed.
When we began the journey to this day almost a year ago, we really did not know what our findings would be. And as we discussed our process, we also knew that we did not want to hold a "critique session," pointing-out all of the failings in the work we were assessing. We wanted to do what you've witnessed here today: to re-affirm the importance of...